Production of 4He and 4He in Pb–Pb collisions at √sNN = 2.76 TeV at the LHC

Results on the production of 4He and 4He nuclei in Pb–Pb collisions at √sNN = 2.76 TeV in the rapidity range | y |< 1, using the ALICE detector, are presented in this paper. The rapidity densities corresponding to 0–10% central events are found to be dN /dy4 He = (0.8 ± 0.4 (stat) ± 0.3 (syst)) × 10−6 and dN /dy4 He = (1.1 ± 0.4 (stat) ± 0.2 (syst)) × 10−6, respectively. This is in agreement with the statistical thermal model expectation assuming the same chemical freeze-out temperature (Tchem = 156 MeV) as for light hadrons. The measured ratio of 4He/4He is 1.4 ± 0.8 (stat) ± 0.5 (syst).